Could leasehold reform cause a new Tory split?

Now that the Conservative party no longer has the issue of the EU over which to tear itself apart, is there something else that could replace it? Although perhaps not on the same scale as Europe, there is an issue which splits two of the party’s client groups: leasehold reform. On the one hand are the aspirant homeowners, the voters who turned to Mrs Thatcher thanks in part to the right to buy and the wider promotion of home-ownership. On the other hand is the landed interest, an amalgam of new and old money which owns the freeholds to many of the country’s blocks of flats and leasehold houses.

Today’s announcement of reforms, giving stronger rights to leaseholders would appear, on the face of it, to be a victory for the former group. Besides the already-announced ban on new leasehold houses and the elimination of ground rent on newly-built flats, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has held out a few carrots for existing leaseholders.